The present invention is relative to orthodontic braces for the treatment of dental malocclusions, wherein dental floss is used for the treatment of said malocclusions.
Orthodontic braces are devices used by orthodontic specialists to help align and straighten teeth, in order to obtain a correct mastication, a better dental health as well as a better smile for those people who presents defects and malalignments of the teeth. Normally, orthodontic braces manage to move the teeth in the direction desired.
In the orthodontic industry there are basically three different types of orthodontic braces, i.e. fixed braces, which are used to treat malalignments, since they manage to move the teeth in the direction desired; mobile braces, which are mainly used in interceptive orthodontics to modify wrong habits and behaviors in the growing and developing child; pre-treatment braces, both fixed-type and mobile-type, which perform tasks that could not be otherwise performed with other external orthodontic appliances, such as palate expansion or shaping of the jaw.
Normally, fixed braces comprise wires made of metal material, elastics, bonding materials, tubings or bands on the molars.
Said fixed braces usually comprise threads of different materials and tubings on the molars, thus turning out to be extremely unaesthetic, since they are very showy and, therefore, not suited to be worn by adult patients.
Mobile braces are normally used to treat less serious malocclusions and for dentofacial deformities, but they normally allow limited movements of the teeth. These movements are normally generated by means of screws, springs and arcs.
The braces of this type allow the creation of a harmonious balance in the lower third part of the face both from a functional and from an aesthetic point of view, since they guarantee not only orthodontic results, but also orthopedic results, since they correct and guide the development of the bone bases.
Pre-treatment braces are devices which are sometimes invasive and act on the teeth before the use of one of the above-mentioned types of braces.
The most common type of pre-treatment braces is the one that has to be applied on the palate, which is normally called palatal expander and comprises a palatal metal plaque with a central hole of reduced dimensions, into which a suited expansion key is inserted, which is adapted to obtain the expansion of the palatal plaque.
Fixed braces, as mentioned above, are adapted to treat very serious malocclusions, but they present as a drawback the aesthetic problem.
In order to solve the above-mentioned problems connected with the treatment of malocclusions and the aesthetic aspect, orthodontists normally suggest the use of mobile braces.
Such mobile braces, though, are only adapted to treat minor malocclusions.
If mobile orthodontic braces are used to treat more serious malocclusions, they need much more time in order to reach the desired movements of the teeth; furthermore, as time goes by and the treatment progresses, it is periodically necessary to modify the shape of the braces themselves, often causing an actual replacement of the braces with new ones with a consequent increase of the expenses for the patient.